Lesson No.1

Monday, June 20

SOOPA DOOPA

Thursday, June 16

GORGEOUS GEORGES

LES GEORGES LENINGRAD Costumes, disco and scary Dada art in one party package, straight out of Montreal. New wave, no wave, dance-rock and noize in a head-on collision. Les Georges Leningrad have toured with bands like Erase Errata, The Gossip, Le Tigre, The Locust, Magas, Sonic Youth, Trans Am and the Unicorns, if that helps at all; good luck using that little list to nail their sound, mind you. New album ‘Sur Le Traces De Black Eskimo’ (Tomlab/Alien8) out very soon, or NOW, if you get an import copy... or for a bite-sized taste, go listen to ‘Soopa Doopa’

PRO FORMA Quartet from Glasgow who are down with the punk/rock/house/mashup underground, and whose tunes recall, just for starters, Neu! and Kraftwerk to A Certain Ratio and other bassline-y 80s types. They used to have a fella called Paul Thomson playing drums for them before he went and joined Franz Ferdinand; their second 12” is being released in June on Thomson’s label, New! Records. Their rock family tree gets queerer still, with none other than Chris Leo (The Lapse/The Van Pelt/Native Nod) stepping in as their new guitarist! We have a bit of a lob on about this, and you may too when your hear these sounds...

MARTINI HENRY RIFLES Drum machine-fuelled noise chug from Cardiff that shouts about all manner of muffled shit and climbs over furniture. Debut album ‘Superbastard’ out now on FF Vinyl

Monday, June 6

DISTORTED PROSE

dälek is a band that's been around the world more times than most, playing shows and expanding minds since 1997. Quiet for almost a full year after constant DIY touring with such bands as Mike Patton's Tomahawk, ISIS, KRS-One, De La Soul, The Melvins, Grandmaster Flash, and fresh off of a landmark collaboration and release with Germany's krautrock legends Faust, dälek are back with their third and most sonically challenging full length to date, Absence. Expanding their sound and pulling from their influences, Absence recalls the best parts of Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad, the street poetry of KRS-1, the raw beats of Gang Starr and Mobb Deep, and the fearlessness of the avant garde, like Glenn Branca, My Bloody Valentine and Penderecki.

If only Hip Hop aged like wine –– where Public Enemy sampling Slayer while spitting lyrics for the "Permanent Underclass" had informed and challenged younger artists who were socially conscious and musically aware, then maybe in 2005 dälek wouldn't seem so out of place. Instead, the contemporary Hip Hop scene is more interested in hyperactive 1000 word-per-minute emcees backed by cookie cutter production. With such lowered expectations of course it’s difficult to understand dälek's frustrations in the fiery opener "Distorted Prose." If you're used to emcee's boasting about their skills, you might miss the history lesson in urban oppression on "A Beast Caged." And if you can't believe that hip hop music can or should be complicated, emotional and breathtaking, you'll probably want to pass over the MBV-drone bliss of "Ever Somber" or the sheer sonic terror behind "In Midst of Struggle." But then again, if you missed all that rest assured MTV will soon pump out another mindless Hip Hop record that you won't have to worry about. One that won't offend you, or make you think, or challenge your expectations. This is not that record. This is an album of violence, pain and the challenges of life. And they never sounded so good.

Wednesday, June 1

DAMSELS IN THE DARK

No Lesson activity this week, but acid-folk queen Marissa Nadler plays The Miller's Tavern in Riverside this weekend for our friends Forecast and In The Pines, and if you're into tales of melancholy gloom vocalised by beautiful, flaxen-haired maidens there's probably worse things you could be doing on a Sunday. Like watching Heartbeat, or something. That would definitely be worse.